It was Peter Mandelson who reminded me. Oh, I don’t think the Dark Lord had any intention of jogging my memory but there it was anyway: this election rmeinds me a little of the American Presidential election in 2000. Now David Cameron’s no George W Bush even though I think some Labour types do misunderstimate the young, inexperienced Tory leader but there are times when one wonders whether Gordon Brown is another Al Gore.
They share some things anyway, not least the unfortunate habit of being mocked for things they didn’t quite say but everyone thinks they did (“I invented the internet!” “Well, I saved the world!”). But neither is wholly comfortable in front of the cameras nor much good at accepting even helpful advice. Both are a little too proud of their intellectual chops and each might have been a better leader in the pre-teevee era.
Most of all, however, they’re running campaigns that have a fair bit in common: Gore’s entire pitch was based less on his own abilities but as a warning against what might happen if George W Bush were elected.
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